Polish Parliament Backs EU Fiscal Compact

WARSAW–The Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, passed a bill Wednesday allowing the country’s president to ratify a fiscal treaty that is supposed to deepen the oversight of national finances of euro-zone members.

Conservative politicians immediately disputed the result, saying that ratifying the bill with a simple majority violated the constitution, which demands a two-thirds majority for the transfer of sovereign prerogatives.

They will ask Poland’s constitutional tribunal to rule on the matter while, in the meantime, refusing to recognize Wednesday’s ratification bill. Their vote against ratification meant the bill fell short of a two-thirds majority.

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The fate of the treaty, which seeks to rein in budget spending by the euro zone’s national governments, now lies with President Bronislaw Komorowski, who is widely expected to agree it. It has so far been signed by 25 of the 27 European Union members.

Poland will be bound by the pact after it adopts the euro or if the government declares it will observe the rules.

The government said it pushed for ratification in order to participate in EU decision-making and to prevent a permanent division between the bloc’s euro and non-euro members. It argued that no sovereignty will be transferred to the EU because the treaty isn’t part of the bloc’s laws, with two members choosing not to sign it.

The government said Wednesday it doesn’t plan to unilaterally express the intention to observe the treaty’s rules, and it doesn’t have a euro adoption target date. It could be ready around 2015 or 2016 to start preparations for euro adoption, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, adding that it shouldn’t be interpreted as a binding pledge.

Mr. Tusk said Tuesday that Poland wasn’t ready to adopt the euro yet, failing to meet the criteria laid out in the EU’s Maastricht Treaty, which requires member states keep deficits, inflation and currency exchange levels in check.

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